Shotty Mayes is climbing up the ranks faster than some of Columbus’ most seasoned artists. Is he the next young gun to rep Columbus nationwide?
Shotty Mayes has won an unprecedented amount of awards and showcases but he is most noted for winning the Ohio Hip Hop Awards showcase in 2008, alongside with his startling performance at Rocharder Magazine’s “Roc tha Mic” event which led to Shotty becoming the youngest and the first independent artist ever to be featured at the National Urban Hair Networks “Styles for Stars” event in 2009. With his groundbreaking performances it’s easy to see why Shotty Mayes is winning the hearts, minds and ears of todays youth all across the country in a remarkable fashion.
Shotty Mayes has established a massive Soulj Boy type following on all of the social networks in with over a million plays and views on myspace, tons of fan mail on facebook and over 30 thousand viewers tuning in to see him live on ustream it’s only one place 15 year old Shotty Mayes is headed and that is to the top.
Shotty Mayes has been performing since the age of 11 and is currently performing in venues across the country including Atlanta,New York,Columbus,Albany,Phoneix, Miami, and Los Angeles. Shotty has gained some international experience which has helped him prepare for the global landscape in the music industry. For the past two years he has performed at the Carabana festival in Canada, The Carnival in Trinidad, and various events in Jamaica. Venue owners and mangers all across the country are now joining the buzz Club Dejavu owner Christopher Clark in Albany, Georgia says in a interview with “Hip Hop Weekly” he will not even book a teen event unless Shotty Mayes is on the ticket.
Rashad “Shotty” Mayes has a very unique story. With a near death experience at birth, the doctors were ready to label him with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, but God had other plans. His father is from Water House Kingston, Jamaica where he had numerous run-ins with the law. Unfortunately, he is now serving a life time sentence in an Ohio correctional facility. Shotty was raised by his mother with three other children to care for on the south side of Columbus. Shotty’s mother introduced him to Hip Hop at a very young age. According to Shotty, he would fall asleep listening to “Dear Mama” and “If I ruled the world” by Nas. By the age of three he knew the Tupac classic by heart. When Shotty was just eight years of age he asked if he could go to the studio with his older cousin. A defining moment in Shotty’s life would happen that day as he witnessed a group of emcees having a freestyle session. Shotty made a spontaneous decision to join the session and started rhyming. Everyone was amazed at young Shotty’s word play and rhyme schemes. The studio managers had quickly saw his potential and Shotty has been writing and recording rap songs ever since. READ MORE
